Congress for Cultural Freedom
The Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was an anti-communist cultural organization founded on June 26, 1950 in West Berlin, and was supported by the Central Intelligence Agency and its allies. At its height, the CCF was active in thirty-five countries. In 1966 it was revealed that the CIA was instrumental in the establishment and funding of the group. The congress aimed to enlist intellectuals and opinion makers in a war of ideas against communism.
| Founded | 26 June 1950 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 1979 (as International Association for Cultural Freedom) |
| Location |
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| Origins | Central Intelligence Agency |
Area served | Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, Latin America, Australia |
| Method | conferences, journals, seminars |
Key people | Melvin J. Lasky, Nikolai Nabokov, Michael Josselson |
| Endowment | CIA to 1966; Ford Foundation to 1979 |
Historian Frances Stonor Saunders writes (1999): "Whether they liked it or not, whether they knew it or not, there were few writers, poets, artists, historians, scientists, or critics in postwar Europe whose names were not in some way linked to this covert enterprise." Peter Coleman argues that the CCF was a participant in a struggle for the mind "of Postwar Europe" and the world at large.